Fiat Dangles Opel Carrot: Fewer German Job Losses

Fiat Dangles Opel Carrot: Fewer German Job Losses

By Bill Visnic

Evidently seeking to up the ante in its gambit to take over General Motors Corp.'s Adam Opel AG, Fiat S.p.A. Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said over the weekend that job losses from the takeover would be far fewer than press accounts have speculated, reported the Associated Press.

Marchionne told the AP that Fiat's plan for restructuring Opel and integrating it and most of GM's European operations into a mega-automaker consisting of Fiat, Opel and Chrysler (the assets of which Fiat expects to acquire through Chrysler's Chapter 11 bankruptcy) would mean less than 10,000 job losses in Europe - not the 18,000 some reports have suggested.

Fiat wants to split its own multifaceted auto business into distinct parts, one that will incorporate its Ferrari and Alfa Romeo premium brands and a separate group that encompasses its mainstream Fiat vehicles. It is the mainstream division Fiat proposes to combine with Chrysler and GM's Opel and Vauxhall, which primarily is a British brand.

But recent reports have said a group consisting of Canada's Magna International and a Russian automaker may have a proposal that is favored by the German government, which is expected to extend a loan of billions of euros to whichever bidder wins Opel.

Michelle Krebs:  is Editor-in-Chief of AutoObserver.com. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.